Brake Nightmare

What started out as needing new break pads, at the recommendation of Firestone, turned into a nightmare. I had no problems with my brakes at all, but they recommended I get new pads soon so I figured better early than later. ( I have about 80K miles on the truck, original equipment) In a nut shell, here is what happened.

Friday morning on 2/11, I dropped off my truck at my local Firestone for new brake pads. They called around noon to "up-sell" a brake fluid flush...the guy said it is highly recommended, so I said go ahead. It was about 5pm and I hadn't heard from Firestone, so I decided to call and they told me it was ready. I arrived about 5:30, paid and was off...so i thought. I almost ended up in traffic because the brakes were very soft/mushy and i had the pedal down about 85% to the floor when it finally came to gradual stop.

I go back in and the manager and tech spend the next hour and half test driving it, putting it on the lift, off the lift, and making adjustments. Finally around 7pm the manager and tech walk up to me in the sitting area..."can you leave your truck overnight, we think its your master cylinder?"

I was very upset, but it got worse, the master cylinder is not a part that is carried by any of the local shops or dealer and the soonest any one could get one would be Tuesday 2/15. Come Tuesday morning (8:30 am-ish) I call Firestone to check on the part, I was told it was there and would take aprox 2hrs to install. So I call back around 11:30, they tell me the part was just picked up I end up with runarounds like this all day and finally at 6:45 pm I get a straight answer...after replacing the master cylinder...the brakes are doing the same thing.

Wednesday morning, I talk to the manager and now I am told its my passenger caliper So now they have to order the caliper and those wont be in until Thursday. (Today) They called at lunch to tell me the truck was ready and finally it was the way i took in... working great.

The manager, Joe, apologized for the break down in communication and said his ultimate goal was to make sure I was happy and that the truck was fixed. I didn't have to pay anything but they had to put in over $2,000 in parts and labor to resolve this issue. They ended up putting:

- New master cylinder
- Front calipers (driver & passenger)
- New rotors (driver & passenger)
- New pads
- Labor for all the above

What the heck happened......They still cant tell what went wrong so TACOMAWORLD, does any one have any ideas as to what happened?

However, I thank the Firestone team for going above and beyond to get the issue resolved and making sure I was happy and that my truck was back in working order. Mission accomplished!

 

They probably messed up on the flush and got air in the system.

 

x2. I bet they don't know how to flush the ABS well. Probably using some bypass hose or something.

Surprised they didn't sell you calipers. They're usually "stuck" when firestone sees them.

 

if you can pump up the brakes you may just have air in the lines

 

agree with david..if you can pump them up firm, it is just air in the lines.

if you get it pumped up firm and while holding the brakes, the pedal slips down..it is the MC. sounds like they do not know what they are doing. i've heard of MC going bad because someone will overwork the pedal past a certian point..but i think that is more of an older MC thing.

 

blueyota..just so you know, when you are trying to stop and the pedals feel like a sponge..the first order of business is to start pumping.

 

this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I flushed the brake system in my buddies 69 Chevelle back in high school. The only symptom it had was a slight pull when the brakes were applied. That turned out to be an alignment problem.

After I flushed the brakes, the pedal was very low to the floor. Long story short, we had flushed out a bunch of dirt and rust that was creating a seal in both the front wheel cylinders and the master cylinder. The car's rear brakes were the only brakes still working. We wound up changing the master cylinder and rebuilding both front wheel cylinders to fix the problem.

Funny thing was that the brakes had all been redone professionally while his brother owned the car about five years prior to this incident, but the car sat for a couple years under a tarp before he started driving it.

Surprising that a late model truck would have this issue, but not impossible if the brake fluid had ever been contaminated.

 

I think your first mistake was taking it to Firestone. Those guys are criminals. I've never know anyone to get out of there without some bullshit upsell. I usually do my own brakes and if I don't have time I take it to a real mechanic. Glad you got it resolved. I wonder how many people they manage to screw. I remember years ago when Sears got busted for upselling people shit they didn't need.

 

Let me tell you what I think happened...

At some point, the brake fluid absorbed water, which is expected...that water caused rust and pitting in the master cylinder, at the end of the stroke. When they pumped the brakes to bleed, the rust and pits damaged the master cylinder seals that caused air to enter the system, which they had trouble getting out.

Now, if they just did a basic vacuum bleed, they might have been OK.

 

i think the master cylinder is fine. they just cant get a stubborn bubble out. i had a bad MC once. you really cant stop the car..the pedal will just PHHSSSHHH! go to the floor.

the OP called out 85% to the floor, and then stopped. sounds more like air bubbles.

 

I keep telling you guys there's a check valve thats part of the master cyl, the purpose of the check valve is to hold a slight 15psi to the brake lines all the time, even when the brakes are in a non-use condition, the reason for it also is for it to have quick and instant brakes, so it doesn't take extra time for the brake lines to pressurize.
With the check valve you "MUST" "BACK-BLEED THE BRAKES"
Thats how its done at the factory!

 

Usually most mechanics at these corporate garages are inexperienced, train on the job employees with very basic maintnance knowlege. Not to mention they could care less about you, the vehicle they're working on & most importantly, the shop that employs them. They can always go to the next one down the street & get hired. The true mechanics own their own shop, do the majority of wrenching themselves & stay on top of current technology. Why? Because it's their name, reputation, & how they live. They & only they have to answer for their work & don't have a corporation with bottomless pockets to save them. They will fix your vehicle right the first time 99% of the time & are up front with you if it's something they will need time for. There is one in almost every town, you just have to ask around to find him. You are fortunate you got out of there with no charge, obviously the manager knows how to treat customers when his employee messed up. A rare occurance these days.

 

Bummer. As long as everything is working fine and all parts are toyota genuine then I would just laugh at them and learn your lesson. Unless you trust the service, stick with Toyota.

 

I have owned several vehicles and I have always taken them to this particular Firestone for tires and oil changes however, never any other maintenance but I figured why not, its brakes...company like this...no problem for them. I truly don't know if it was something they did or if these parts were on the way out but since I didn't have any problems with my brakes when i took it in, I stuck to my guns and wasn't going to leave with a bill or my truck in any other condition than what I took it in. I think I will take my transmission flush to the dealer.

 

That's what I thought. I would have attempted it my self but there never seems to be time. I've had my All-Pro leafs in the back cab for 4 weeks now, I keep telling my self, "this weekend." With a full time job, night school and a 1yr old the last thing I needed was to start the breaks and then have it sitting for a week. Oh wait, that happened anyways

 

You know, if this was the case who would get blamed? Was it their fault? I guess what I am asking is could it have been avoided during the process of replacing the brakes? Had I done it myself would this have happened too?

 

Mr Firestone meet Mr. ATRAC

Your truck has ATRAC right ?
Those trucks needs to be done at dealership (says so in FSM) due to some weird adjustment that has to be done. There is no bleeding process for them other then using TIS.

 

Sorry, what the heck is ATRAC?

I have an 06 4x4 TRD, but I have never heard of ATRAC.

 

Do you have VSC button to the left of steering wheel ?
or how many lines your master cylinder has comin out